Coventry Transport Museum
The Coventry Transport Museum (formerly known as the Museum of British Road Transport) is a major motor museum, located in Coventry City Centre, England. It houses the most extensive collection of British-made road transport in the world. It is located in Coventry because the city was previously the centre of the British car industry. There are more than 240 cars and commercial vehicles, 100 motorcycles, 200 bicycles and several tractors. Features The most notable exhibits in the museum are Thrust2 and ThrustSSC, the British jet cars which broke the land speed record in 1983 and 1997 respectively. The speed exhibition features a number of video / film clips and a Simulator for the Thrust 2 Car (costs a £1 pr 'ride'). Royal cars - Queen Mary's and King George's State limousines. A Humber staff car used by General Montgomery during the Second World War is also on display. The collection includes the 1,000,000 th (millionth) Ferguson tractor built and the last Massey Ferguson built in Coventry. Several other unique vehicles are part of the collection. Many "conventional" cars are in the collection, including an Austin Allegro, an Austin Metro (Minimetro) previously owned by Lady Diana Spencer, a Ford Escort MK2, Hillman Imp, Triumph Acclaim, Talbot Sunbeam, Talbot Horizon, Peugeot 206, Peugeot 405 and the De Lorean (DMC) car made famous by the Back to The Future films. The museum displays many Jaguars and other Coventry built cars such as the Triumph, Humber and Standard marques, an Alvis tank, Massey-Ferguson tractors, and Coventry built buses. A vast array of former Coventry built motorcycle marques are also represented in the museum's collection including: Triumph, Francis-Barnett, Rudge-Whitworth, and Coventry-Eagle. Events The museum also host specialist motoring events to promote motoring heritage and bring the collection to a wider audience. The 'use' quite a few of the vehicles in the collection and participate in suitable events such as the London to Brighton Run with eligible vehicles from the collection. Coventry Festival of Motoring This event was held in September 2009 on the forecourt of the 'new' museum and featured several cars from the collection and a road run round Coventry city centre on the Saturday, with a dinner held in the museums conference suite and a behind the scenes tour for participants. The Sunday event was held in the Memorial Park with more participants and a longer 60 mile road run around Warwickshire. (photos from the 2009 event to follow) Conservation, Preservation or Restoration Their is a display explaining the 3 different concepts and asking the question which is best (or right) and asking the public to give their opinion as to which policy follow with the collections contents. Private owners & Loan A number of the exhibits are on Permanent / long term loan from companies private collections or from private owners. Others have been gifted to the collection by their former owners. Exhibits Some of the exhibits are listed here (a large number of others are kept in storage & used to rotate the displays) Bicycles Coventry was a centre of cycle manufacturing with several of the car manufactures starting as bicycle builders. A Large galley charts the history of the cycle from the wooden Hobby Horse through Penny Farthings and Safety cycles thought to modern Mountain bike and carbon fibre racing machines. Maunfacturers Car * Alvis * Austin * British Leyland Motor Corporation * Coventry Climax * Ford * Hillman / Talbot / Peugot * Humber Cars * Rover Group * SS Cars / Jaguar * Standard Motor Company * Triumph * Wolseley Commercials (trucks & buses) * Scammell Highwayman - tanker * Karrier Motors - delivery van * Dennis - fire engine * Daimler Motor Company - buses * Maudslay - Truck & Buses * Morris Commercials - GPO van Motor cycles The town was home to many early motorcycle manufactures some who started as bicycle builders and the evolved into car production and other just disappeared after WW II when cars became popular (and affordable), as mass production boomed. Many of the old Marques disappeared as they had failed to evolve and modernise or had folded during the 1920s depression. Tractors * Ferguson TE20 * Ferguson FE-35 * Massey Ferguson 65 * Massey Ferguson 4345 - Last tractor built in UK factory (Loaned by AGCO) * Ferguson Research Ltd. 4-wd test car Others * An AA Land Rover Series 1 * A Daimler Motor Company built Scout Car * Montgomery's Humber Staff car * Recreations of factory and garage scenes. * several concept cars and prototypes. See also * Museums List * Commercial vehicles * Shows and Meets References / sources Based on wikipedia article External links *The museum's website *Museum virtual tour *Your Icons Highlights from the Coventry Transport Museum collection Category:Coventry Transport Museum Category:Automobile museums in England Category:British motorcycle museums Category:Cycling museums Category:Museums in the West Midlands Category:Transport museums in England Category:Buildings and structures in Coventry